Head Coach Rich Brooks
?We?re obviously excited about having the opportunity to play in another bowl game. We?re excited to play a quality opponent, such as Florida State. We know this will be a very difficult game. They have great speed. They have tremendous athletic ability and a great tradition. This will be a real challenge for our football team. We had a great experience a year ago in Nashville (site of the Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl). Our players are excited to go back there. This is a quality bowl, against a quality opponent. It?s an experience that we thoroughly enjoyed a year ago, and we?re looking forward to the opportunity.?
On if he has ever coached against Florida State?s Bobby Bowden?
?No, I have not. We?ve known each other since 1980. In fact all of the old guys, Joe Paterno, Rich Brooks and Bobby Bowden, we went on the initial Nike trip way back when Nike started getting into football and having associations with college coaches. We?ve known one another for that period of time. To me, he (Bowden) is obviously one of the coaching icons in college football. He is currently the number-one leader in all-time wins in Division I football.?
On playing against Florida State?
?Like I said, we?re playing a quality opponent that has the tradition and history that Florida State has. It?s a nationally recognized football team. They?ve had national championships, and great seasons upon great seasons. They?ve played in 26 straight bowl games. That?s a few. We?re working on our 12th bowl game in school history, and second in a row. We would like that streak to obviously continue. We?re excited to play a team with the tradition Bobby Bowden has built for that team, a team that has basically been his creation.?
On Kentucky?s fan support?
?We have unbelievable fans. I knew they were good when they were still coming, when we weren?t very good, into Commonwealth Stadium. I realized just how good they were, when we walked into that stadium in Nashville a year ago, that was one of the more memorable experiences in my coaching career. Having gone to the Rose Bowl, and some other bowls, usually you only have about half of the crowd. When we walked out there and saw that the stadium was full of Blue and White, it?s truly one of the more impressive things that I?ve seen from a fan base.?
On finishing the year with a win?
?It?s always important to finish with a win. Although the record is the same this year, it?s a much more impressive record than last year?s 7-5 team was going into the Music City Bowl. We played one of the more difficult schedules in the country. You?re going to see a whole bunch of teams that were on our schedule in post-season play, others may have qualified that might not get there. This was a major league schedule that we had to get through this year. There were some disappointments along the way obviously. There were also some of the more exciting games in Kentucky football history, some of which will be on ESPN Classic for a long, long, long time. I?m as proud of this team, as I have been of any team that I?ve coached. This (senior) class has done so much to restore the confidence and the attitude of Kentucky fan base in football, that this game takes on a very significant meaning. I would like nothing more than to send them, the senior class, out with a second bowl victory.?
On the play of Florida State?
?Speed, speed, and more speed. I think if you look back 20 years ago, they were fast before anybody else was fast all over the place. They brought a new dimension, to me, speed on the defensive side of the ball. They?ve been, historically, one of the great teams for producing pro football players. They have had explosive offenses in the past. They still have great ability on the offensive side. Defensively, they are still one of the premier teams in the country.?
On the season?s expectations?
?Like I said earlier, our disappointment is that we didn?t follow up after having an outstanding start. We would have liked to have played in the SEC Championship game, but we didn?t. We didn?t take care of it on the field. Other teams made plays that we didn?t, down the stretch. We were competitive. As I look back, I think this is the most competitive team on a game-to-game-to-game basis that didn?t have any blowout losses, being in every game with a chance to win going into the fourth quarter since about 1984. This is a disappointment always, because you?d like to win all of your games. We didn?t. We actually had a little slump, obviously I thought we competed very well against a well- rested Florida team and after we lost that the next few weeks, we weren?t quite the same team. We found a way to go on the road and get another SEC road win against Vanderbilt. We had an opportunity at Georgia. We didn?t quite get that done. That?s another BCS bowl team that we were in the game with against with a chance to win in the fourth quarter. Obviously, Tennessee?four overtimes. You win some, some you don?t, I guess. We are disappointed that we didn?t win more of those. Having said that, we?re excited to be going to a bowl game, going to Nashville, and playing Florida State.?
On going to back-to-back bowl games and how it helps build the program?
?I think last year the question was, ?have we turned the corner now that we?re going to a bowl game?? I said, no that I think you have to follow up on that. This team did follow up on it. Along the way, not only did we follow up on it, we achieved some very significant things that haven?t been done here against some quality teams. As it appears to me right now, we can say we probably defeated one of the teams that is going to be play for the National Championship (LSU). That?s a significant victory for a program that two years ago, hadn?t had a lot of those things happen and certainly not a lot of bowl games. When you?re talking about the 12th bowl game in school history, let?s face it folks, this is a pretty good football team to accomplish what we did here in the last two years. It?s my opinion that we need to follow up with another one next year and I think we are in position to go forward after this season.?
On how this strengthens the team?s visibility?
?Somebody told me a couple of years ago, that we need to play our arch-rival in the first game of the season so that we can get TV visibility. I think we got a little visibility on TV this year. When we go out and recruit in junior colleges out in California, those guys know our players? names. We?ve been on national TV, CBS, three times and ESPN two or three times. The visibility of this program has risen a great deal, based on in some ways on what we did last year, but more importantly on what we?ve been able to accomplish this year. (ESPN College) GameDay coming to Kentucky for football, I think is a significant step in visibility. The fact that we are playing Florida State in a bowl game on New Year?s Eve is significant enough for visibility. If we beat them, all you do is continue to add to your r?sum? that you are trying to build to recruit to establish this program as a team that is going to be a factor in the SEC every year.?
On his memories of the win last season at the Music City Bowl over Clemson?
?I was tremendously excited for our players. If I?m not mistaken, I think we were the biggest underdog taken of any team out of all of the bowls last year. For us to play like we did, and set the tone and then follow through ? For us to play on that stage, and produce that kind of effort and execution made me very proud of the players. I was excited for the seniors that left last year, because they hadn?t had anything like that in their careers. Now we are losing a group of seniors who are a major, major part of that last year and unbelievably important in what we?ve been able to accomplish this year.?
Kentucky Players
#3 Andre Woodson, QB
On competing throughout the regular season schedule ?
?I think we gained a lot of respect from a lot of teams just because the way we continued to fight – we never gave up in any of the games. I think this year we just did a great job competing with a lot of the bigger-name teams, more so then we have in the past. That shows that the talent has risen for the University and hopefully, we can continue to build some depth and continue to win some games.?
On playing a traditional power in Florida State ?
?We are excited that we get a chance to play against a great team like Florida State. Hopefully, we will do a great job of preparing ourselves, both mentally and physically, to take on the challenge and show the nation that we are still the team that started out the season.?
On the attitude of the team ?
?We definitely want to see ourselves in the SEC title game, but unfortunately things didn?t work out that way. The guys are very positive and very upbeat right now, so they are ready to get out there and get things started in practice. We are just up to the challenge to get out there and play another game.?
On getting the additional practice time that accompanies a bowl berth ?
?We just have to do a good job of preparing ourselves in practice. I think that the guys know that the freshmen are going to be really excited because this is their first bowl game and a lot of them will be able to travel and enjoy the experience. For a lot of them to see this and experience it, it really motivates them toward going into next season and continuing to try to turn things around.?
On the UK fan support ?
?The fans definitely help us out, especially defensively, when they are cheering and yelling. It definitely motivates us and keeps us in the ballgame. I think that is going to be huge for us; last year really played out very well for us, with all the fans we had and to see them in the crowd supporting us, I know it really motivated me and the rest of the team. It really gets us pumped up to go out there and play a solid game.?
#99 Jeremy Jarmon, DE
On playing in Nashville for a second-straight bowl game?
?I?m definitely excited. It was a little disappointing how the season turned out, but it?s going to be exciting to see another 50,000 UK fans in Nashville again. What makes it even better is we?re playing a Florida State team that?s a storied, big-time program. Bobby Bowden is a Hall of Fame coach.?
On playing a storied program like Florida State in the bowl game?
?They?ve turned out a lot of NFL players. They are so fast. Their guys are really athletic with big offensive linemen. Growing up, Florida State was a school that was always on ESPN and television. Everyone knows about Florida State, we know about Florida State. It?s going to be exciting.?
On the team?s feelings going into the bowl game?
?I think the guys? attitude right now is that we are frustrated that we lost the Tennessee game. So guys are fired up. The last couple of practices there have been some hard hits. It?s a little disappointing that we had some tough losses down the stretch, but we don?t want to get embarrassed by Florida State on national television on New Year?s Eve.?
On what the team points to for motivation going into the bowl game?
?There?s a lot that we can point to, for one, making sure these seniors get out of here (on a positive note). Keenan Burton, Wesley (Woodyard) and Andre` (Woodson) to name a few, have done so much to inspire us younger guys to go out there and play. So we?re going to give it everything we?ve got come December 31st to make sure we are ready to go.?
#19 Keenan Burton, WR
On playing a storied program like Florida State in the bowl game?
?When you think about Florida State, you think about National Championships. You think about Warrick Dunn, Peter Warrick and so many great players that have graced the field there. To play them, all you can do is get excited. If you can?t get excited for this then you don?t have a pulse.?
On how the game is close for UK fans to support the team in big numbers?
?It?s a blessing to have some of the fans that we have. They?ve been through everything with us and so many of them didn?t forsake us and leave us. That means so much to us. They don?t know how much that means to us in big and small games or when things are going wrong. So the fact that they can come and support us like they did last year and the fact that the game is already sold-out ? it?s special. I think it is something great for the program. I know that we want to give them a show.?
On completing a legacy for this year?s senior class?
?There really hasn?t been a great tradition at the University of Kentucky, football-wise. That?s something that we have stressed as a senior class and I know the younger guys want to be a part of that and make their own tradition. If we can do that I think it will be something special for the university. I know it will be something special for the seniors and show the young guys what they need to do and what to play for. If you can get a win and say that you won your last college game, that?s something that you will never forget. But if you lose, that?s something that you?ll never forget too. I think everybody wants to go out on a positive note and you can?t go out on a positive note if you don?t win. A lot of seniors who have left the University of Kentucky cannot say they?ve been to back-to-back bowl games. It?s just great feeling to be talking about it and to be practicing right now and to not be at home watching games and waiting for the next season to start. We have something to play for, so I?m just excited. I?m really going to enjoy it.?
On if he?s a fan of country music?
?Oh definitely, I love country music and country music loves me.?
